Definition
C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) is an open standard for embedding cryptographically signed metadata in digital media to document origin and edit history. Members include Adobe, Microsoft, Google, and others.
Key Points
- Metadata-based provenance — signs at end of software processing pipeline
- anthropic uses C2PA for Claude-generated images; text uses SynthID
- apple-reference-image positions sensor-level signing as more secure alternative to metadata-only approaches
- Apple also plans SynthID support for AI-edited images in 2026 software update